I’m re-reading An Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life for the thousandth time, and it has reinvigorated my data-collection and recording tendencies. So, here’s a little of this and that, little truths that I usually hide.

Above: This is one of my pantry shelves. No matter how many organic/natural/fancy things I have, I will ALWAYS have a jar or two of Peter Pan peanut butter.

When we go through the drive-thru at P Terry’s, I always order a lemonade, even though I never drink more than a few sips.

If I have your phone number in my phone, and when you call, your name pops up, I will answer the phone, “Hey Rachel!” or “Hey Mom!” Some people seem taken aback by this, as if I should have answered, “Hello?” But that doesn’t make sense to me, because we’d both know that I knew it was you calling, and I pretended not to so I could give that question-like “Hello?” greeting.

If I buy a bag of cookies, I will ration them out into what feels like a normal amount per day. One after dinner. Maybe one as a snack instead. If I bake cookies, I will eat as many as I can without getting sick until they are gone, so home-made cookies only last a day or two in our house.

When I wear lipstick (as opposed to my tinted Burt’s Bees lip balm), I feel like everyone is looking at me, knowing that I don’t usually wear lipstick.

I can’t sleep well at night if my email inbox is full.

This is what’s in my fridge. Right now it feels very righteous, with its local milk and sauerkraut, jar of homemade soup, containers of roasted veggies, local eggs and fresh produce, small batch chocolate sauce and organic salsa. I still love Brummel & Brown spread and colby jack cheese and vanilla soymilk. That box of truffles melted together, so now it’s one big lump of chocolate. Rather than throw it away, it’s just sitting in there, waiting for the day when I will actually attempt to break apart the truffles and eat them.♥

1. Ugh, I wish my pantry looked like that!
2. I loooooove that little hanging basket thingy in your fridge. Wish I had that!
3. I don’t think I’ve ever actually tried Peter Pan in my life! We were a Jiffy family.
4. I always do the same thing when I answer phone calls. It’s funny because a lot of times, the convo goes like this:
Me: Hi, Grace!
Grace: Hi, Nicole, it’s Grace.
Me: I know, I just said that.
5. I’ve never worn lipstick before because I’m scared of the same thing. I always feel that I way when I wear anything I think makes me a little more obvious like tights or a purple skirt. We went to a Christmas event and I went all-out with the tackiness: red sequin headband, tacky green sweater, short red skirt, tights, knee-high snowflake socks. The whole night I was like, “EVERYONE IS GOING TO KNOW I’M AN IMPOSTER!”

I wish my fridge was so well organized! Mine looks hideous! Oh and I’m gonna be a meanie right now and I am going to send you lots of one word emails to last you all week til I get to see you! Ha ha! Just kidding! À bientôt!